Tag Archives: Election 2011

Rebekah Johnson, representing People for a Better Port Orchard,
sent me an email this evening citing sources for the anti-Coppola
fliers distributed by her group in the recent Port Orchard
mayoral campaign. (See below)

In an interview earlier today, downtown Port Orchard business
owner Darryl Baldwin praised Coppola for his pro-business stance
and strong leadership, but said Coppola
may have had a blind spot for constituents who felt
alienated.

“Most of us didn’t expect Lary to lose,” Baldwin said. “What I
see under Lary’s leadership, there was a split that was occurring,
and Lary either didn’t see it or chose to ignore it.”

On the effect of the fliers, Baldwin, former president of the
Port Orchard Bay Street Association, said, “It didn’t have to sway
a lot of votes, but it swayed enough votes.”

I was at the recount today, and I can testify that there was
plenty of scrutiny by both candidates and their representatives of
the meticulous process, in which ballots that had been previously
run through the machine were recounted by hand. No one, not the
candidates, not their supporters, not the people who were there out
of sheer curiosity, had a beef with how the recount was conducted.
In fact, all said Elections Manager Dolores Gilmore ran a tight
ship.
This, folks, is democracy in action. The voters have spoken.
Despite Coppola’s widespread support among
business owners, those with an interest in real estate, and other
electeds from within the city and beyond (including plenty of
state-level folk), Tim Matthes will become mayor Jan. 2.

Coppola, no doubt, has done considerable soul searching about
what led to his political demise. He has said he has no interest in
running for other political office. He has plenty of other
prospects, however, he said.

The race was extremely close, a difference of five votes out of
3,072 cast. What this means for the city depends on how everyone
left in the game — Matthes, council members, business owners,
chamber representatives and ordinary citizens — reacts to the
change. Matthes ran on an “I am not Lary” platform. What else can
he bring? We at the Kitsap Sun will be watching.

Here is Rebkah Johnson’s statement:
Election Result Confirms Voters
Want a Change in Leadership
Contrary to outgoing Mayor Lary Coppola’s claims that he lost his
re-election bid due to “blatant lies, half-truths, and innuendo” by
his opponents, the truth is that the same voters who elected him by
more than 70% four years ago had seen enough. The People for
a Better Port Orchard, a citizen’s committee comprised of business
owners, taxpayers, families and Port Orchard citizens – some who
had supported Coppola just four years ago – simply circulated the
facts about his actions and involvement in issues and decisions as
Mayor. The sources for these facts, which clearly refuted his
claims, were the Kitsap Sun and the City of Port Orchard.
Mayor Coppola had the opportunity to correct these facts when they
first appeared in print in the Kitsap Sun over the last years, but
failed to do so, and by his silence agreed with their
authenticity. It is unfortunate that, when faced with the
scrutiny and judgment by those who have had enough of these
tactics, he seeks to blame others for his own actions.
The details and source material for the mailers that were sent are
available at www.letlarygo.com
Of the original precincts that first elected Mayor Coppola four
years ago, not including the newly annexed areas of the City,
Coppola’s support shrank from the original 70% to barely 45%.
The conclusion is clear – those who have endured these last four
years have had enough.
It’s time to move Port Orchard forward.

Results of a manual recount of votes in the Port Orchard mayor’s
race show
Tim Matthes to be the official winner. Matthes maintained a 5
vote lead over incumbent Lary Coppola, who has issued a statement
on the race, the recount and his tenure.

Mayor Coppola’s statement:
“While I’m disappointed in the results, I also strongly believe
that
everything happens for a reason, and the universe has a better plan
for me
going forward. I’d like to thank the staff at the Auditor’s office
for
their hard work and dedication to making this process work.

I’d also like to thank our staff for their support over these
past four
years, for their dedication to our City, and to the vision I
outlined in
2008. We have a lot to be proud of: Assembling what is commonly
acknowledged by the other elected officials in this county as the
very
best, most talented staff of any City; Moving our City from
spending
reserves to meet payroll to creating reserves in the worst economy
since
the great depression; Bringing the City back into compliance with
the
Growth Management Act; Bringing a business-friendly, can-do
attitude to
City Hall; and finally, reducing crime – and more importantly
violent crime
– significantly. Port Orchard is now a a safer place to live, work,
own a
business and raise your family, then any time in more than a
quarter of a
century.

We took the high road throughout and ran a clean campaign based
on the
issues. Unfortunately, when my my political opponents realized
they
couldn’t attack our record of solid. positive accomplishments,
they
resorted to attacking my personal integrity and character using a
series of
blatant lies, half-truths, and innuendo – and enough voters bought
into it
to make the small difference. Such is the nature of politics.

Serving has been both a true honor and a personal pleasure. I
want to
express a heartfelt “Thank You” to the downtown businesspeople
who
supported me, the organizations and other elected officials who
endorsed
me, and most of all, the voters who believed in me four years ago,
believed
in my vision for our City, and still believe in me now. I’m
sincerely
grateful to all of you. “

I’m checking in here, the day before Election 2011, on the issue
of term limits, raised during this campaign season by Dave Kimble,
a candidate for the Port of Manchester. Kimble has called for
reducing the term of port commissioner from 6 to 4 years.

Kimble, if you remember, is
making his fifth bid for the port commission. He has made it no
secret he is gunning not so much for his opponent, incumbent Dan
Fallstrom, but for longtime port commissioner Jim Strode, who beat
him in the late 1990s in a race so close it was called on a coin
toss.

Kimble, in an Aug. 15, Kitsap Sun
story on his term limit proposal, noted that Strode will have
served 30 years with the port when his term is up at then end of
2015.

“It sounds like it’s an election for me and Strode, but it’s
not. It’s joined at the hip,” Kimble said.

Kimble has said that, if elected, he would make it his job to
rock the boat and challenge the “good old boy network” he thinks
has developed on the port commission.

Fallstrom has pledged to take a steady-as-she-goes approach and
maintain what he describes as the fiscally conservative mindset
that the board of commissioners has historically held over its
modest budget.

Regardless of whether Kimble wins or loses, term limits would be
a good first step, he said.

“I like the idea of stopping career politicians from serving on
our port commission,” he wrote in a letter to the Kitsap Sun’s
opinion page Oct. 25.

Sitting commissioners, including Fallstrom, have expressed
concern that a four-year rotation could result in having two new
commissioners on the three-person board in certain election years.
That, Fallstrom and others say, could result in instability and
loss of institutional knowledge.

Kimble says term limits would make the port commissioner
position less daunting of a commitment, possibly attracting new
candidates. It also would result in more dramatic change-ups on the
board, which Kimble sees as a good thing.

Kimble inaccurately stated in his Oct. 25 letter that half of
the state’s ports have already switched to four-year terms.
According to
a document on the Washington Public Ports
Association website, only 10 of the state’s 75 ports have
four-year terms. Five of those have five-member commissions,
reducing the potential for major change-ups in any given election
year. The other 65 have six-year terms.

The cost of the term limit election measure became an issue in
early August. The situation bears some similarity to Port Orchard’s
code city debacle.

If you recall, Port Orchard residents Gil and Kathy Michael
challenged the city council’s decision to change its form of
governance without putting the matter to a vote of the people. The
Michaels submitted a petition to place the code city proposal on
the ballot, but the timing of their submission meant the city would
have had to pay up to $30,000 for the election, because they would
miss the general election, when the cost could be shared with other
cities, the county, ports and school districts. The council
reversed its decision on becoming a code city, with the idea they
will take it up again in the future, possibly putting it to a vote
when timing would allow for a less costly election.

Kimble in early August asked the commissioners to put the
term-reduction measure to voters, but they said there wasn’t time
get it on the November ballot (the deadline was in late August) and
hold a public hearing on the proposal, which the port attorney
advised.

Kimble responded by launching his signature collection efforts.
In an email copied Aug. 8 to the Kitsap Sun, he said failure to
place the measure on the general election ballot could result in
special election costs to the port of $8,000, for a shared
election, up to $35,000. Kimble said he would ask the measure be
placed on the February, 2012 ballot.

Port commissioners also believed the cost of the election would
be high, according to Fallstrom, who said they discussed the issue
at their October meeting. The port’s total operating budget is just
more than $50,000. “It’d cripple us basically,” Fallstrom said.

In an email to Manchester resident Carol Kowalski, Fallstrom
said he believed having to pay the $30,000 could lead to a decline
in the port’s bond rating. That opinion made its way into a letter
to the editor (not in the Kitsap Sun) by Kowalski that was critical
of Kimble.

In an his Oct. 25 letter to the Kitsap Sun titled “Port of
Manchester not the OK Coral,” Kimble said that the cost of the
election could be as little as $800 and “some individuals” were
spreading “misinformation.”

On checking with Kitsap County Elections Manager Dolores
Gilmore, I found Kimble to be correct on the $800 cost. Gilmore,
citing RCW
53.12.175, noted that the measure “must be submitted (to the
ballot) at the next general election or special election that
occurs 60 days or more from the adoption of the resolution (if the
board were to initiate it) or submission of the petition.”

The law, in this case, appears to give the port the option to
wait on submitting the measure until the next general election,
when the port would share the cost of the election with multiple
other jurisdictions, Gilmore said.

The words “in this case” are critical, said Gilmore, who
emphasized that there are many types of petitions, each governed by
different RCWs, depending on the type of government agency and the
subject of the petition.

As with the code city issue, Gilmore said, the burden of
understanding the consequences of the law is on the petitioner,
because the burden of carrying out the law is on the city, county
or port that receives the petition … at a cost to taxpayers that
could range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand
dollars.

Fallstrom was delighted to learn (from me during the week of
Oct. 24) that the port would have the option to delay Kimble’s term
limit measure until the general election. “That’s good news to us.
That’s the first I’ve head of it,” he said.

A couple other things both the petitioner and the port ought to
know, if they don’t already: Kimble has up to six months from the
date the first signature was obtained (Sept. 16, 2011) to submit
the petition. That would be March 16, not February, as Kimble
earlier believed.

Second, the law is unclear in this case on how the petition is
to be submitted. The RCW says the petition “shall be submitted to
the county auditor.” It doesn’t say whether it’s to go first to the
port, which then is bound to submit it to the auditor, or if Kimble
can and should submit it directly. Gilmore said she would want
county attorneys to rule in on a definitive answer.

All this may seem like a lot of governmental geekiness, but a
lack of attention to just such a detail is what tripped up the code
city ballot efforts.

Kimble has multiple other complaints about the port. One that’s
still hanging fire has to do with an interlocal agreement that,
according to Fallstrom, allows the port to contract for small jobs
without going out to bid. Kimble believes it’s a circumvention of
public process and has lodged a complaint with the state Attorney
General’s Office. A spokeswoman for the SAO told me her office will
review the complaint, and I’ll keep an ear out for the results.

Check in with the Kitsap Sun tomorrow evening for the results of
this and other local races.

Debates are the political equivalent of speed dating. Candidates
have snippets of time to define themselves, differentiate
themselves from their opponents and connect with the crowd.

We at the Kitsap Sun will be doing in-depth articles articles on
local races and ballot issues. Debate coverage, on the other hand,
could be seen as more superficial but also more immediate.

Here’s what I took away from this morning’s debate hosted by the
Port Orchard Chamber of Commerce. Races featured were the Port of
Bremerton Commissioner, District 3, and Kitsap County Commissioner,
District 1 (North Kitsap), neither of which I’m doing the in-depth
coverage on.

In the commissioners’ debate, Republican Chris Tibbs took every
opportunity to set himself apart from incumbent Commissioner Rob
Gelder. Gelder was appointed in March to fill Steve Bauer’s
position.

Interestingly enough, Tibbs considers himself an “independent
moderate” and has contributed to Democratic campaigns in the
past.
His goal in this race seems to be to diversify the all-Democratic
board of commissioners.

“We have not had an independent voice on the board since 2008
(when Republican Jan Angel’s term ended),” Tibbs said. “I think we
need a voice to look at the interests of what the minority
are.”

“I maintain my own independent voice,” said Gelder, whose
background is in nonprofit management, most recently at Martha
& Mary Health Services of Poulsbo. “What I uniquely bring to
the board of commissioners is the perspective of service.”

Gelder said his goal is to “re-size government to a more
sustainable level,” while advocating for “the most vulnerable.”

Tibbs, director of sales and operations for Ootopia coffee
roasters, touted his business experience and said he would run the
county with a more stringent eye to the bottom line, fully funding
justice, roads and land use, and cutting as needed in other
departments. Tibbs would be looking to “shed layers of employees”
but also wants to restore the county to 5-day per week service
versus the current 4.

Tibbs blasted the county’s “lack of transparency,” citing the
Shoreline Master Plan Update process and the county’s legal tangle
with Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club
as examples.

Gelder, now on the defensive, said the county has come a long
way in increasing transparency, especially in the budget process.
(Both Gelder and Tibbs served on the county’s budget advisory
committee). Concerns that the Shoreline Master Plan will decimate
individual property rights are not justified, Gelder said. The
public has and will continue to be involved in the planning
process.

Gelder said the county has made strides toward a sustainable
budget and the board is on track to rebuild the general fund
reserve account. He cited recent refinancing of bonds
that will save an estimated $1.7 million over time as an example of
the county’s more proactive approach to balancing the budget.

Gelder also defended his background in nonprofits as valid
experience for the job of commissioner. “Running a not-for-profit
requires you to be even more creative to make payroll,” he
said.

The two candidates hold 180-out positions on Kitsap County’s
membership in the Puget Sound Regional Council. The council, which
also includes King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, oversees
distribution of state and federal transportation funding.

Tibbs says Kitsap’s interests are not being represented in the
PSRC. He advocates the county withdraw and establish its own
stand-alone entity. “We have no reason to be with this
organization,” Tibbs said. “We could be a stand-alone and receive
the same or more monies.”

Gelder said the county can’t afford to distance itself from the
PSRC. “It’s the reality we’re operating in,” he said. “We need to
be a player around the table. If we’re not there, they basically
will roll right over us.”

In the nonpartisan Port of Bremerton debate, candidates Axel
Strakeljahn and Shawn Cucciardi had a harder time setting
themsleves apart from one another.

Both said the port has not yet fully recovered the public’s
trust since 2007 when it passed a poorly publicized tax
increase
of 45 cents per $1,000 for the Bremerton Marina. Cucciardi called
it a “stealth tax.” Strakeljahn dubbed it the “midnight tax.”

Both candidates talked of the port’s need for a solid short- and
long-range business plan to promote economic development. Both
touted their business experience as credentials for the job.
Strakeljahn manages the Port Orchard Fred Meyer. Cucciardi manages
McCormick Woods Golf Course & Clubhouse.

Cucciardi said he’d pump up marketing of the port. Strakeljahn
said he’d make sure any business decision made by the port
commission pencils out. He would “hold the line on taxes” he
said.

Cucciardi said his style is to take “positive approach” to
problem solving. Strakeljahn spoke of his immigrant parents, who
taught him the value of hard work and “attention to detail.”

So there you have it, just a few notes from the debate, for what
it’s worth.

Last week, the Kitsap Sun editorial board heard from candidates
for the city of Port Orchard at-large position. Video of the debate
between Ben Pinneo and Jerry Childs is posted on our website (and below).

Today, the ed board will hear from mayoral candidates Tim
Matthes and incumbent Lary Coppola, and from candidates for
position 5 Amy Miller and Cindy Lucarelli.

I sit in on the debates, but I’m not involved in any discussion
of endorsements, which come from the editorial
board. If you have any questions you’d like me to ask the
candidates, call by 3:30 p.m. (360) 792-9219 or email
chenry@kitsapsun.com.

Here’s a post from our business reporter Rachel Pritchett,
who covers the Port of Bremerton. Thanks Rachel for the
contribution. — Chris Henry

SILVERDALE — First out on the campaign trail for the open Port
of Bremerton commissioner post is Axel Strakeljahn, who got a few
words in at a meeting of the Kitsap County Republican Party on
Monday evening.

Strakeljahn, pronounced Streck’-el-john with a short e in the
first syllable, got a wait-and-see reception from the 25 or so who
attended the meeting at the Silverdale Beach Hotel.

Not surprisingly, one of the first questions he got was whether
he would raise taxes.

The Seabeck resident said he was the candidate with the
strongest “business ethics” and the one with “experience you can
trust.”

He promised to give “careful attention to where money is
spent.”

Strakeljahn, 52, took aim at the port’s marketing efforts, which
he said have been carried off “ineffectively” and
“irresponsibly.”

He suggested instead that the port and the cities of Port
Orchard and Bremerton become “a cohesive working unit” to promote
tourism and a healthier business climate.

He took exception to an early and informal suggestion by one
current commissioner, Bill Mahan, that the port consider hiring a
consultant to come up with a plan to promote an “industry cluster.”
According to Mahan, identification and promotion of an industry
cluster would strengthen the ties and attract new players in a
certain industry, say in boat-building. Mahan has said the $200,000
cost could be shared by many entities that would result in only a
small cost to all. Strakeljahn said that was a bad idea. The matter
is expected to be further discussed at an upcoming port study
session.

Strakeljahn, who built his own house in Seabeck, said that after
three decades of leading businesses in Kitsap, it was time for him
to give back to the community.

He said he has endorsements from state Rep. Jan Angel and
others.

The only other person who has announced he will run so far is
Shawn Cucciardi, an owner and general manager of McCormick Woods
Golf Course and the Clubhouse Restaurant at McCormick Woods.

Port commissioner District 3 is being vacated by Mahan, who is
retiring. The expansive district covers much of south and west
Kitsap.

Shawn Cucciardi, general manager and an owner of McCormick Woods
Golf Course and the Clubhouse Restaurant at McCormick Woods,
announced today that he will run for Port of Bremerton commissioner
position 3, being vacated by longtime commissioner Bill Mahan. Port
Orchard Fred Meyer manager Alex Axel
Strakeljahn already has announced he will run for the
position.

“Our priorities are to create and maintain jobs by retaining
current tenants like SAFE Boats and focusing on a long term
development plan to increase business revenue and make the port
fiscally self-sufficient,” he said.

Filing week starts on Monday. We’ll do our best to keep readers
up to speed. Feel free to contact us with notice of your candidacy:
chenry@kitsapsun.com or sgardner@kitsapsun.com.

Lucarelli lost in 2007 to John Clauson, another council veteran,
who is up for re-election this year (position 4).

“To be honest, I’m not even sure that I’m running,” said
Lucarelli, on being asked about her presence at the candidates
orientation. “I just went to make sure there wasn’t something I
didn’t know about.”

With filing week just more than a week away (it starts June 6),
Lucarelli, organizer of the city’s Cedar Cove Days, is saying she’s
still on the fence, with “several factors” playing into her
decision whether to run.

Other city of Port Orchard positions open are: mayor (incumbent
Lary Coppola has announced he’ll run), position 1 (incumbent Jim
Colebank), position 5 (Fred Olin) and at-large (Jerry Childs). None
of the incumbent councilmen have made their intentions known.